The investigation and prosecution of Bush era officials must inevitably lead to Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and other high officials.

When she was confronted by a student questioner last week, Condoleezza Rice defended torture with these words: “[By] definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the Convention Against Torture.”

That argument will never hold up in court and it is not holding up with Stanford Alumni and students either. They nailed a petition to the door of the president of the university that read:

“We the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes, and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities.”

Bush's Hall of Shame

George W. Bush raised $100 million in the 100 days since he left office for his presidential library. He and his cronies are racing to remake his legacy and fend off prosecution for his crimes. With your help, we will stop him.

IndictBushNow and others are holding demonstrations, rallies, press conferences, engaging in lobbying, taking out newspaper ads, and mass circulating the petition calling for the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. We are providing leaflets and petitions to people around the country.

It was high Bush officials who ordered the torture. The Justice Department lawyers must be held accountable for their obscene and sadistic “legal memos,” but they are lower rung figures. They are the lawyerly equivalent of the guards who tortured and savagely humiliated the prisoners at Abu Ghraib. They too were following the orders of even bigger criminals.

Spain’s top investigative judge Baltazar Garzon has decided to pursue a new criminal investigation of those responsible for authorizing, planning and executing the U.S. torture program. The case could lead to arrest warrants in countries throughout Europe and it will put new pressure on the Obama administration to appoint a Special Prosecutor.